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New AGU Executive Director Outlines Goals and Priorities
Christine W. McEntee will join AGU on 30 August as the Union's third executive director. She has been executive vice president and chief executive officer of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) since February 2006.
We are very fortunate to have McEntee join us at this stage in AGU's transformation to an inclusive, participative organization. We are also excited about her outreach expertise and ability to help AGU become an authoritative voice of Earth and space science. She is definitely up to the challenge after having successfully accomplished a similar result at AIA.
McEntee was selected from a large group of outstanding candidates following an extensive international search. AGU was assisted in the process by the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller. Robert Van Hook of Transition Management Consulting, Inc., has served as AGU's interim executive director since the end of January 2009. He will continue in that capacity through August.
In an interview with Eos, McEntee outlined some of her goals and priorities and shared her excitement about coming to AGU (see the interview on page 156 of this issue of Eos).
—TIMOTHY L. GROVE, President, AGU
When Christine W. McEntee takes the helm at AGU as the new executive director on 30 August, she will bring with her a number of key qualities: more than 25 years of successful association leadership and management experience, a passion for the Earth and space sciences to benefit humanity, a commitment to working to ensure the planet's sustainability, a respect for AGU's distinguished legacy, and the desire and ability to help AGU grow to a higher level of effectiveness.
“I have always liked to work in professional associations that are solid and strong and want to go to their next level of excellence—that is where my sweet spot is in being an association executive—and that is what AGU wants to do. So I am very excited about that: a match with what I really enjoy and get passionate about doing in an area that I really care about,” McEntee told Eos in an in-depth interview.
Since 2006, McEntee has served as executive vice president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), where she has successfully led a complex organization with 280 chapters, introduced a number of new initiatives, and grown the membership at a rate of 5–6% per year to its current 83,000 members. Previously, McEntee was CEO of the American College of Cardiology and executive vice president of the American Hospital Association, among other positions. She has a master's degree in health administration and a bachelor's degree in nursing, and she is a graduate of the Advanced Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
McEntee joins AGU at a transitional time for the organization, which has been led since January 2009 by Interim Executive Director Robert (Bob) Van Hook of Transition Management Consulting, Inc. In addition, AGU recently approved governance changes, which take effect on 1 July 2010 and establish a new structure for governing the organization.
McEntee said her biggest challenge will be to help manage and implement changes at AGU. “There has been so much energy put into ‘what do we need to do differently for the future?’ and excitement around that,” she said. “In implementation come unexpected opportunities and unexpected challenges,” she explained, adding that the organization has “a long history and an important legacy that has to be respected and yet moved into the future.” She plans to work in collaboration with leadership and staff on this.
Among her other goals and priorities, McEntee noted the need for “increasing the ability of AGU and the expertise that exists in its membership and in its body of knowledge to be a real resource to the media, to policy makers, and to other stakeholder organizations.” She said it is vital to connect the scientific community to others and share with the broader community that part of AGU's vision about using science for the benefit of humanity. She also mentioned the need to increase the effectiveness of AGU in positioning itself to influence the international and national agenda on climate change, natural resources, and natural hazards, among other issues.
McEntee said that science “has a very important role, in and of itself, to understand and help the public understand what is really happening. But it also has a great role to play in connecting with other professions and disciplines” to benefit humanity.
Another goal McEntee highlighted is ensuring that as scientific publishing evolves through digital communication and deals with the issue of open access, it maintains relevance, validity, and reliability. “The publishing part of science is so important, and yet there are a lot of changes swirling around from the digital age and the call for open access. How does AGU make sure that that legacy is preserved and yet adapts to that future reality?”
McEntee said one her most immediate goals will be to learn more about AGU by meeting members, leaders, and staff as well as by meeting with other organizations that AGU collaborates with. She said a next step will be to “direct that energy into those broader goals that AGU has for itself.”
McEntee said she appreciates and deeply respects science. She recognizes, though, that some people may be concerned that a person who is not a geoscientist will lead AGU. “That concern occurred when I was at the American College of Cardiology. I wasn't a cardiologist. When I entered AIA, I wasn't an architect. I understand and appreciate that concern,” McEntee said.
Noting AGU's 58,000 members, she added, “My job and the staff's job at AGU are going to be to harness their energy and expertise.” McEntee stressed that “it is important to have somebody who understands how to make an organization run very effectively in support of what members want to do.”
In addition to McEntee bringing her association leadership and management skills to AGU, there are also some interesting connections among architecture, AIA, and the geosciences. Noting that the building sector is one of the highest users of energy and among the biggest contributors of carbon emissions, she said AIA's board had taken a strong policy position prior to her starting there that all building—whether new or renovated—should be carbon neutral by the year 2030. She said a sustainability agenda has since become an embedded value at AIA and that the group also is working with the International Code Council on creating the first green commercial building code.
AIA also has been concerned about the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in January and the unfortunate role that poor building construction played in that disaster. “There are plenty of other countries like Haiti that need better building and infrastructure to be able to withstand natural disasters and hazards that we know will continue,” she said.
McEntee noted that AIA's concern about sustainability influenced her taking that position. The opportunity at AGU to broaden that concern about sustainability to much more than the built environment “just really excites me,” she said. “I am concerned about the future of the planet, and that we have an ecosystem where humanity can thrive and be productive. When you look at droughts, weather pattern changes, pollution, and carbon, and what it is doing to our atmosphere, I am concerned about that as a citizen and for future generations.” AGU has a strong role to play in solving these problems, she said.
—RANDY SHOWSTACK, Staff Writer